News Worthy?

Think on this… I miss the good old days when the top news story was of a shooting, stabbing, major fire, etc. Now to gain headlines all you need is to have cheated on your spouse, dated someone who dated someone famous, or “accidentally” shown your genitals. All these things have somehow become news worthy.

Now, some would blame the media, because they control the content. But, as a former employee of a national news agency, I don’t think they are to hold the bulk of the blame. They are in the business of sharing content that grabs your attention long enough to show advertisements. The more people they can get to watch their network the more money sponsors pay. It’s we the viewer who drive what’s important to the broadcaster. If we want to see nipple slips, then they are sadly way too happy to oblige us.

Yes, there used to be standards and practices that kept news people’s feet to the proverbial fire, but those rules shift with our standards. I think we should look to our thirst for meaningless content before we lob arrows at the media. Then and only then we will be able to keep them in check. The bible says, “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.” Isaiah 5:20 We have lost our sense of what is right and important. We should require more from ourselves first… Just a thought.